It’s Ada Lovelace Day, in which people round the world celebrate the legacy of a legendary woman by “sharing stories of women— whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians — who have inspired you to become who you are today”.

I’m taking a slightly different tack. I’m sharing the names of women who tell stories – science writers whose work I admire. (If anyone’s wondering, here’s the intensely scientific method I used to compile the list: I sat down, wrote names, and stopped when I got to 15) Each name is accompanied with a brief reason why I think they’re awesome and some links to past work. And as I’ve said before, this is not a list of top female science writers; this is an all-female list of top science writers.

Megan Garber from the Atlantic captures the aesthetic of the modern online blogger-columnist better than anyone else I know. She uses the daily news as a launchpadfor wonderfully witty and insightful commentary. And more than anyone else I know, Megan can take something already quite joyous like this Ode to Joy flashmob and make it even more joyous by just bloody talking about it.

Kate Clancy tackles the topic of female reproduction with the great writing and clear science that it deserves but rarely receives. See these posts about Todd Akin’s claims, or the myth of menstrual toxins. And Kate gets extra kudos for acting as a role model for other female scientists and bloggers.

Maggie Koerth-Baker is Boing Boing’s science editor and a columnist at the New York Times, which should tell you something about the blend of wit and authority at play here. See this amazing piece on prion diseases (which doubles as an op/ed on live-tweeting conferences), this one on how science museums are failing, and this brave, personal piece on abortions. And the hilarious Twitter stream.

Alice Bell has yet to say something about science communication or policy that I disagree with. Her writings on these topics are compassionate, deeply considered, and razor-sharp. See this piece on why the fridge got its hum, and specifically listen to her podcast on science literacy.

SciCurious is a master of funny, analytical blogging. Her posts where she picks apart papers area joy to read, deeply educational, and a great insight into what a paper looks like through the lens of a sceptical scientist. See this one on anorexia and obesity, and on mimetic desires. And Friday Weird Science is a consistent delight.

Kerri Smith has been described as the “complete journalist” – awesome at words, pictures, video and audio. See, for example, this profile of dino-hunter Xing Xu, but also the great stream of Nature features on daydreaming, the future of fMRI and more.

Erika Check Hayden nails genetics reporting every single time – textbook example of how to cover a beat really well. See this feature on informed consent, post on what Steve Jobs’s death tells us about the limits of sequencing, or more generally, her continuing reporting for Nature.

Barbara King has been blogging up at storm over at NPR, with loads of thoughtful, fascinating posts on animal behaviour and all things anthropological. See these posts on captive killer whales, the death of a gorilla, or misleading bird “funerals” for starters.

I really could go on. Okay, I will. Here are the next 25 people I wrote down.

Feel free to add more below, although try to stick with the format. I find these things more helpful if you give a reason why that person is great, or at the very least, a link to something they’ve written.

And I haven’t had time to check the links so let me know if any are broken.

Comments (69)

Aoife McLysaght

I’ll also add @claireoconnell who is a freelancer often writing for The Irish Times and New Scientist, and @mhdelaney whose blog http://sciencecalling.com/ just won Best Science / Education Blog at the Blog Awards Ireland.

Okay, Rose really needs to be on the list too. No idea why she wasn’t – clearly I am losing it. Check out this excellent SciAm feature on the science behind Oscar Pistorius’ legs and all the wonderful audio/video work like this animation about the life of a paper

Eugenie Samuel Reich, for straight-up, kick-ass reporting on scientists behaving badly…and physics ‘n stuff. Recent story on Annie Dookhan, Boston forensic chemist who’s boinked a bunch of criminal cases (“she sometimes contaminated samples after the fact so that they would conform to her guesses”): http://www.nature.com/news/boston-scandal-exposes-backlog-1.11561
Here she is, scooping the rest of us astro reporters by attending a seminar given by MIT’s Maria Zuber, principal investigator for the lunar gravity-sniffing GRAIL mission (“Yet her talk, and the thrilled reactions from those present at the seminar…”) : http://www.nature.com/news/tandem-satellites-probe-the-moon-s-interior-1.11419
…and so many more excellent stories.

Thank you Ed, I’m so flattered to be included! What a great list, including the additions in the comments! I’m giving a talk today at Bradley University as part of their Women and Science lecture series – I’ll be bringing up this post!

Ed, this is a fantastic idea and list — deep thanks. (I am blushing and thrilled at my entry.) I’ll add Helen Branswell, who arrived home to Canada from a foreign political assignment just before SARS flattened Toronto, and reinvented herself as an emerging-infections reporter with such thoroughness that she subsequently led worldwide coverage of pandemic flu.

Natalie Angier, of the New York Times and her own fantastic books–a brilliant essayist.

Bug Girl, who is on diapause, but whose archives are well worth reading (make sure you don’t have food in your mouth while reading, unless your furniture has protective covering): http://membracid.wordpress.com/

I’d also add Diane Ackerman (@DianeSAckerman) who writes beautiful books. Lastly, Jennifer Ackerman and Susan Allport, both brilliant science storytellers, although I don’t believe they have blogs or are on twitter.

Diane Ackerman (@DianeSAckerman) The only writer I know who can one minute deliver an intelligent discussion of DNA, the amygdala, or neurotransmitters and in the next breath segue to a poetic reflection on Proust, Buddhism, or the “liquid mosaic” of a lover’s face. http://www.dianeackerman.com/

And, thanks to you Ed, I’ve now added about 20 new people to my Twitter feed. Excellent list.

What an incredible list. Having serious case of impostor syndrome seeing my name among these great women. I had others come to mind, but scrolling through the comments, I see almost all of their names already! I hope people bookmark this entry and refer to it and the comments frequently. So much that’s good here, and I’m glad to say I’ve read almost everything that’s linked or mentioned. Thanks, Ed.

Can’t argue with Khalil’s nomination of Sarah Laskow — she also writes for me at Grist (http://grist.org/author/sarah-laskow/) and is reliably terrific. And indispensable. So, you know, give her freelance work but please please don’t steal her from me.

Most of my favorites have been mentioned, but I have to plug my mom, Robin Marantz Henig (@robinhenig), who’s been doing this since most of you were in diapers — nearly 40 years! She’s a tenacious interviewer (which is kind of mixed if you’re her kid, but great if you’re her subject), a scrupulous researcher, and a personal role model of mine, obviously. Here’s one of her recent New York Times Magazine cover stories: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/magazine/04anxiety-t.html?pagewanted=all

Bias be damned, @jess and @MichaelMoyer: Robin Marantz Henig and Melinda Wenner-Moyer are essential additions to any list of women science writers, so I’m glad you mentioned them. If you hadn’t, I was on my way through the comments section to do it myself.

I second the additions of Mary Roach, Dava Sobel … Also Amy Harmon and Xeni, for sure. And thanks for the kind words about my book, @Frank.

And though she’s not primarily a science writer, I think any list of women writers who’ve made important contributions to science storytelling (and therefore science) must include Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.

I’d also add Alondra Nelson (@alondra and http://www.alondranelson.com/), author of “Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination”

Also Laura Helmuth (Slate), who writes on everything from why Jonathan Franzen is the world’s most annoying birdwatcher, to how Romney kicked Obama’s butt in the recent answers to ScienceDebate campaign questions.

And another worthy name to add to the list: Cynthia Garber, @cagraber. who writes beautifully about everything from snake oil to how the heart repairs itself. She’s an MIT Knight Fellow this year. http://www.cynthiagraber.com

Deborah Byrd of EarthSky.com, who regularly publishes information along with visuals about what is up in the sky on any particular night, plus regular discussions of issues in astronomy:http://earthsky.org/he sky

Wonderful list! These women have already been mentioned in the comments, but I’d add: Elizabeth Kolbert, Rebecca Skloot, Holly Menino, and Laura Helmuth (who is also an AMAZING, insightful editor). And I have my eye on Meera Lee Sethi (The Science Essayist blog) for up-and-coming science writers.

I’d add Carmen Drahl of Chemical and Engineering News and J0anna Foster, who freelances for the New York Times, among other places — and not just because this would put a total of three of my former students (Liz Landau being the third) on the list. I take no credit for their terrific writing and reporting, but enormous pride.

Excellent list, I would add one more person to that list.. Laurel Kornfeld she writes the most authoritarian blog on Pluto ( http://laurelsplutoblog.blogspot.com/ )… she would make a perfect addition to this esteemed list.. Thanks..